Everest | 1983 W Ridge from N

A France expedition to Everest in 1983 via W Ridge from N, led by Yannick Seigneur, Patrick Barthe. Summit reached on 10th October 1983. 12 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2770
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID EVER83307
Peak ID EVER
Year 1983
Season 3
Host Country 2
Route 1 W Ridge from N
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality France
Leaders Yannick Seigneur, Patrick Barthe
Sponsor -
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Switzerland, USA
Approach Lhasa->Rongbuk Glacier
Basecamp Date 1983-09-14
Summit Date 1983-10-10
Summit Time -
Summit Days 26
Total Days 38
Termination Date 1983-10-22
Termination Reason 4
Termination Notes Abandoned at 8200m due to bad weather, strong wintery winds, exhaustion
High Point (m) 8200
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 2
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 12
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(14/09,5300m),C1(5600m),C2(5800m),Biv1(08/10,7100m),Biv2(09/10,7500m),xxx(10,16/10,8200m)
Route Notes The 12-member French team was lead by Yannick Seigneur and Patrick Barthe. The strong party intended to traverse Everest via West Ridge (ascent) and NE Ridge (descent). From the Tibetan side, without oxygen and without high altitude camps. Base camp was established on 14th Sept at 5300m on the Central Rongbuk Glacier. The steep firm buttress leading to the W Ridge (7100m) had been fixed with rope. On 8th Oct, the first summit team of Gallet, Fargeas, Seigneur bivouacked at 7100m and 7500m, turning from the W Ridge (Yugoslav route) to the Hornbein Couloir, reaching in 3 days the high point of 8200m (C6 of the last American expedition). Bad weather and exhaustion forced them to retreat. From 14th to 19th Oct Escoffier and Schaffter repeated the attack, sleeping two nights at 8200m. Strong winds made further progress impossible, Thereafter heavy weather made the climb dangerous. However Gallet, Seigneur and Koenig started the last attempt, but they could reach only the height of 8000m. Strong wintery winds, bad weather, exhaustion and frostbite of team members made them abandon the expedition. The conditions during the whole trip were unfavourable. Addendum from Bruno Gallet, February 2022 Patrick Barthe stayed in the BC the whole time of the expedition. Schaffter and Escoffier did most of the task for equipping the route with fixed rope (North spur of the West shoulder, etc…). Bivouac 1 (7100m) was located below the West Shoulder. Bivouac 2 (7500m) was located further up, at a little col down to the West Ridge climbed by the Slovenians in 1979. During the first attempt (from 8 to 13 October), Gallet, Fargeas and Seigneur reached a high point of circa 8200m on the 10th of October, digging in the ice to build a platform for a future campsite. That campsite was roughly located at a pitch length down to the Yellow Band’s start - same as Americans’ C5 (EVER-833-03). As they got taken by a storm during the descent, Seigneur incited them to dig a hole in the snow to get a shelter. The third attempt (the last of the expedition, after the second one of Schaffter and Escoffier) involved Seigneur, Koenig, Fargeas and Gallet. Fargeas and Koenig abandoned above the second bivouac (7500m), at some point in the traverse towards the Hornbein’s start. Only Seigneur and Gallet went further up into the proper Hornbein couloir. As they reached the same high point as the first attempt (8200m), Gallet, still feeling in a good shape, continued. Seigneur not being able to go further up anymore, let Gallet continue up alone for a while. The latter first reached the Yellow Band, then continued alone for a few pitches in there, using the remnants of fixed ropes left by a prior expedition (Japanese?). As he reached about 8360-8380m within the Yellow Band, Seigneur called him from below by his given name (the first time during the whole expedition), begging him to come back down. Knowing his chances alone without oxygen were too scarce, Gallet chose to abandon and joined back his companion, who had started to go down in-between. Late in the afternoon, the duet joined Fargeas and Koenig at the 7500m bivouac, where the quartet would suffer a severe storm during the night. Seigneur and Gallet slept in separate tents of the USA team, whereas the other two slept in the same tent. The next morning, the latter was tattered, since Fargeas and Koenig had imprudently tied their crampons to the tent pole. Seigneur and Gallet found them still lying in their sleeping bags, both rather incoherent and not wanting to come back down. Seigneur, who had already faced a similar situation, forced them to do so, fearing them to die in situ. Helping them to walk back down the fresh powder of the west ridge was a hard task to manage for Seigneur and Gallet. Koenig lost his ice axe 4 or 5 times, which Gallet had each time to take back from 20m below. Fargeas thought to be in a pub, asking Seigneur at some stage “Would you be ok for a beer?”. The arrival of the quatuor in the Base Camp is shown at the end of Afanasieff’s movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocZsmDH-LX0.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route False
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2447691
Year 1983
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w ridge from n

Members

12 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Yannick Seigneur M 1941 France Co-Leader - - Details Other expeditions
Patrick Barthe M - France Co-Leader - - Details Other expeditions
Bruno Gallet M 1947 France Climber Avignon, Vaucluse, France Architect & alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Xavier Fargeas M 1952 France Climber Paris, France Physician Details Other expeditions
Eric Escoffier M 1960 France Climber Lyon, Rhone, France Technical advisor, mountaineering equipment Details Other expeditions
Serge Koenig M 1958 France Climber Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Stephane Charles Joseph Schaffter M 1953 Switzerland Climber Geneva, Switzerland Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Jean Afanassieff M 1953 France Climber Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Bernard Prudhomme M - France Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Louis-Paul Chantelat M - France Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Jean-Louis Etienne M - France Exp Doctor - - Details Other expeditions
Tom Hargas M - USA Climber - - Details Other expeditions

References

5 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
EVER83307 AAJ Schaffter, Stephane - - 58:310-311 (1984) -
EVER83307 - Seigneur, Yannick Le Ciel a Pleines Mains Flammarion, Paris - S278
EVER83307 MM - - - 97:11 (May 1984) -
EVER83307 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198431002/Asia-China-Everest-Attempt-to-Traverse-the-Peak-by-the-West-and-Northeast-Ridges - - -
EVER83307 - - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocZsmDH-LX0 - - -